Ecuador picks 24 players for World Cup qualifiers

Quito (Ecuador), Oct 1 (IANS) The coach of Ecuador football team, Colombian-born Reinaldo Rueda, has picked 24 players to play in upcoming 2014 Brazil World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Chile.

Ecuador will play Uruguay Oct 11 in Quito’s Atahualpa Olympic Stadium in the seventh matchday of the South American Qualifying Tournament, and Chile Oct 15 in Santiago.

The new players in the lineup are Fidel Martinez, who plays for Mexico’s Xolos de Tijuana, and Junior Sornoza, from Independiente del Valle of Ecuador, reports Xinhua.

At a press conference, Rueda unveiled the lineup, which included nine players from foreign clubs.

“I hope Junior and his skills, as well as those of Fidel, who are both for the first time, will work well for us and will provide all their capability,” said Rueda.

He admitted the match against Uruguay, a decisive one for both teams, will be tough, so they will have to “decode their game and mark the differences”.

The president of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF), Luis Chiriboga, said he agreed with Rueda’s selection and called on Ecuadorians to support their team in the decisive matches.

Ecuador and Uruguay are both in fourth place in the South American qualifying zone, with 22 points each with just two matchdays to go before the end of the qualifiers.

Argentina lead the qualifying standings with 29 points, followed by Colombia with 26 points, Chile with 24 and Ecuador and Uruguay with 22 points each.

Ecuador’s lineup:

Goalkeepers: Alexander Dominguez (Liga de Quito/Ecuador), Maximo Banguera (Barcelona/Ecuador) and Adrian Bone (El Nacional/Ecuador)

Defenders: Juan Carlos Paredes (Barcelona/Ecuador), Frickson Erazo (Barcelona/Ecuador), Gabriel Achilier (Emelec/Ecuador), Jorge Guagua (Deportivo Quito/Ecuador), Walter Ayovi (Pachuca/Mexico),Oscar Bagui (Emelec/Ecuador) and Gabriel Corozo (Liga de Quito/Ecuador)

Midfielders: Antonio Valencia (Manchester United/England), Segundo Alejandro Castillo (Al-Hilal/Saudi Arabia), Christian Noboa (Dynamo/Russia), Edison Mendez (Liga de Quito/Ecuador), Alex Bolanos (Deportivo Quito/Ecuador), Junior Sornoza (Independiente del Valle/Ecuador), Renato Ibarra (SBV Vitesse/Netherlands), Luis Fernando Saritama (Liga de Quito/Ecuador) and Jefferson Montero (Morelia/Mexico)

Forwards: Felipe Caicedo (Lokomotiv/Russia), Joao Rojas (Cruz Azul/Mexico), Enner Valencia (Emelec/Ecuador), Jaime Ayovi (Liga de Quito/Ecuador) and Fidel Martinez (Tijuana/Mexico).